Posted on 11/26/2017 6:08:34 AM PST by Cecily
Liz Whitehurst dabbled in several careers before she ended up here, crating fistfuls of fresh-cut arugula in the early-November chill.
The hours were better at her nonprofit jobs. So were the benefits. But two years ago, the 32-year-old Whitehurst — who graduated from a liberal arts college and grew up in the Chicago suburbs — abandoned Washington for this three-acre farm in Upper Marlboro, Md.
She joined a growing movement of highly educated, ex-urban, first-time farmers who are capitalizing on booming consumer demand for local and sustainable foods and who, experts say, could have a broad impact on the food system.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Somebody is doing well as a small farmer - I see the same people year after year selling veggies and vinegar and wine (as well as poultry and meat) at the Union Square Market in Manhattan. I know some of them by name.
They don’t even own it...the rent the 4 acres...which means they’re not living on the farm...they visit it.
I posted their website....Their application says they don’t even own the 4 acres...they rent the farmland.
You can make about $75000 per year on 2-3 acres. We know people who are doing it and we plan to do some of it as a cottage industry supplemental retirement income. You just have to know what to grow in your area.
We have only 3 real farmers that grow their own at out farm market which touts 15 farmers.
Ping
You could make $75,000 a year on 3 acres if you take in work, or work in a trade but not thru agriculture alone. An acre of land cannot produce $25,000 worth of wealth that way. The most you can get out of an acre is $1,000/yr thru livesstock and “crop” farming. Now if you grow pot you can live on 3 acres!
Like I said: always through a dark glass.
LOL! “Highly educated liberal arts grads discover the degrees are worthless and decide to do an honest job - and the WaaaaaaPo acts as if there’s something wrong....
The rat race only gives you money not a life.
The USDA loss of farmers probably has to do with the efficiency of farming causing farms to be much larger employing fewer people. Many farms up here are in terms of square miles, not acres, all managed by a single person with a computer. Machinery is precision GPS directed. Where there used to be 2 ton single axle grain trucks there are semi’s. It’s truly unbelievable. Combines are so huge their width takes up an entire two lane road. I could go on and on.
These folks have a good business head, know agriculture and the markets inside and out and are not afraid to get greasy maintaining equipment or dirty working a field. They work in freezing to scalding hot weather, all hours of the day when required.
The generation they are talking about would be just lost in modern farming on so many levels it would be laughable. I suspect they will be growing a some corn, a small garden, raise a few chickens with their cash crop being pot.
Organic gardening with raised beds etc is the new wave and you can grow significantly more produce on a small plot of acreage. This is not old style farming. We are not talking about wheat, corn, soy beans. We are talking about herbs, salad greens, tomatoes and fancy vegetables. Berries, eggs, stuff like that. You can produce tremendous amounts on several acres.
We plan to do raised beds which produce a lot of plant in a small area with no weeds and easy to work. A large blueberry plot, a type of heritage apple nobody else is selling and exotic chickens which is highly lucrative and takes up very little space. I’m doing test gardening in raised beds in our yard here in the burbs right now and producing some righteous veggies. Our 5 hens put out beautiful tasty blue eggs that our family members squable over to get the the excess we can’t eat. I’m looking forward to a lucrative little business in the near future.
They don’t live on a farm...She rents 4 acres. It’s a part time thing. They’re NOT making a living.
>>These kids are pretend farmers. They aren’t making a living.
They’re Millennials. They are pretend people. They grew up in bubble wrap and behind fences and glass partitions. They went to school and learned communism from teachers who bitched constantly about how they weren’t being paid what they are worth. They rode in SUVs to soccer practice while they lectured adults on environmental responsibility.
In the article, the snowflake farmer quit her “non-profit” job with good pay and benefits. They don’t even go out and seek a truly productive career after college. Instead of finding work in fields that value productivity and efficiency, they choose one that values the ability to get grants and spend the money before next fiscal year.
Playing at farmer may just teach them the brutal reality that their over-indulgent parents failed to teach.
Yeah... Probably white guys trying to get the heck away from all the sexiest and raciest dimocraps...
Depending on the cost of the land, 3 acres is not enough. If you own the land out right you can live like bronze age serfs.
Wine? Or wino?
Adult Beverage or adult (maybe) drunks?
There are some seriously misinformed comments on the current state of farming here.
We grew this stuff in our back yards in the city in the '50s...no fertilizer...no weed killers.
Dandelions came from the yard...because no one used weed killer back then. Salad or fried with garlic...a delight.
Some of them are foodies *and* bookies. Call in the vice squad.
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